Hot chocolate is a hot ticket, no matter the season. And Ticket Chocolate founders AmberLee and Andrea stand by this idea. In fact, it was the very sort of late-night conversation that required a steaming mug of hot chocolate when the idea for the company was hatched by these two sisters-in-law. Their chocolate is simple, sweet, comforting and designed with similar precious moments in mind.
Andrea grew up in the California Bay Area, and her strongest memories of hot chocolate come from holiday visits in San Francisco, where a steaming cup of cocoa was clutched in hand at all times while ogling toys in FAO Schwartz. She never outgrew her love of all things holiday; to this day she loves cool weather, holiday parties, giving gifts and anything sparkly.
Now based in Vacaville, California with her husband and four children, Andrea handles marketing and networking for Ticket while AmberLee covers the design, photography and recipes. They create simple, high-quality drinking chocolate on a stick (!) in luxe flavors like Spiced Ginger, Vanilla Mint and French Dark Truffle, using only the most sustainable ingredients, materials and practices.
Our favorite way to sample Ticket’s cozy concoctions is their trio of Hot Chocolate Pops. Dunk it in your much and gaze into a whirlpool of piping hot milk for two to three minutes as it slowly turns into molten chocolate. It's worth every second of the tantalizing wait.
One block of chocolate hides a giant cube of peanut butter inside (with an actual peanut butter cup jutting out from the top, too), another is full of crunchy peppermint stick shards and the salted caramel stick dissolves into the most delicious, caramel milk chocolate you could imagine, with just the right amount of salt.
Pro tip: It's not just okay to lick the stick before it's done – it's more than okay. We highly recommend it.